On Wed, 15 Jul 2009, Ian wrote:

I hadn't realised that both the LTDA (through Bill Oddy, the General
Secretary) and also the minicab business - in the form of Steve Wright,
the Chair of the Licensed Private Hire Car Association - were
represented on the Board. That's most interesting. I wonder if Oddy is
at Wright's throat half the time! And yet they both have to force
themselves to be nice to the cycling Chairman of the Board, Boris
himself. Then there's the motorcycling Kulveer Ranger, Boris' transport
go to man at City Hall, to throw into the mix as well. Also interesting
to note that there's not one but two union men on the Board as well
(Patrick O'Keeffe of Unite, and also Tony West, a former Gen Sec of
ASLEF and a long serving TfL Board member), though no Bob Crow - if he
was on it then they'd definitely need bouncers in attendance!

List of TfL Board Members:
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/abou...cers/1432.aspx

Doen't any of them ride a horse??? )

No, but i understand that Daniel Moylan commutes on a space hopper.

tom

--
Infantry err, infantry die. Artillery err, infantry die. -- IDF proverb

On Wed, 15 Jul 2009, Mizter T wrote:

On Jul 15, 11:12*am, Mizter T wrote:

On Jul 15, 8:15*am, "Ian" wrote:

Doen't any of them ride a horse??? * )

Seems like the Equestrian commuter lobby obviously didn't donate enough
money to the Boris election campaign... they need to up their profile
somehow, there's hardly any facilities for horses on the roads at the
moment, the only one I can think of off the top of my head is the horse
crossing at Hyde Park Corner - see:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/brianofthegrahams/3045891110/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/henrybloomfield/3306280265/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ninoxowl/3132046063/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/catapultsam/506529510/

But there *are* more... and actually when I think about it, I think I
have indeed come across these south west London horse crossings in the
(horse)flesh before...

Wimbledon:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jessicamulley/3439068052/
Richmond:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/drscar/3214017311/

Also, Bell Lane near London Colney:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dansai/461808729/

I suspect that design was done on the cheap - the red "don't trot" icon
has the same shape as the green "trot" one, that is with the horse's legs
in motion. Compare that to the signal for humans, in which the red man is
standing still, and the green man is ambling. Deuteranopic equestrians
beware!

Another bit of horse infrastructure in London is the sandy horse track
going round Hyde Park.

tom

--
Infantry err, infantry die. Artillery err, infantry die. -- IDF proverb

"Tom Anderson" wrote in message
rth.li...
On Wed, 15 Jul 2009, Mizter T wrote:

[..]

Another bit of horse infrastructure in London is the sandy horse track
going round Hyde Park.



Does that mean that next time a motorist is held up by the Guards riding
their horses on the road, he can shout "Get back on the bloody horse
track!!!"?

)

On Mon, 13 Jul 2009 21:14:33 +0100, Chris Read wrote:

Factor in three fare changes in 12 months, and the
irregular bus user doesn't know the fare they will be asked to find, and
gets flustered.

An Oyster-like pre-pay system would be great, but failing that:

£1 for a short hop (up to three/four stops) £3 for everything else
50p flat fare for kids/teens

Job done!

Chris

Having been a bus driver outside of London, and dealing with fare stages
(and with manual ticket machines, and a faretable), it would make more
sense to have zonal or even flat fares.

Where I currently live in the US, it's a 12 mile journey downtown. There's
a bus every 30 minutes during the day, and the fare is $1.25. It's a box
system, you have to have the correct fare, there is no way for the driver
to give change. The company also sells all-day rider tickets for $5, and
citywide monthly passes are obtainable from the bus depot.

The upshot is that the buses, which are often 75 or more full, don't spend
very long at bus stops at all.






--
Beware of sneezing pigs

On Mon, 13 Jul 2009 21:04:14 +0000, Neil Williams wrote:

gbp1.10 short hop
gbp1.70 most journeys
gbp2.10 (I think) cross-city
gbp3.20 day ticket[1]

Though admittedly Arriva have stated they are deliberately taking a
lower profit to build the market.

It's good they are trying to build the market. Where I live in the US, the
bus company does a 'free Friday' from time to time to encourage bus use.

Not sure how well this works though.

Last year when the price of fuel went up to double what Americans are used
to paying (I know it's cheaper than the UK, but a 100% increase in fuel
prices means extra money has to be found out of the family budget for it,
if it's for communuting), bus use here went up over 60%. It tailed off
again though when fuel prices went back down to normal levels.

It's not just price, it's convenience of course. How far to the bus stop,
and how long to wait for a bus. An age old issue.




--
Beware of sneezing pigs